09-12-2020, 08:40 AM
(09-11-2020, 06:45 PM)dabigv13 Wrote: The most common response when I ask why a patient hasn't gotten a flu shot is no good reason. Very few worry it will give them the flu or a fever or a sore arm. They just say they never have, they've always been ok, and maybe they'll think about it and get one next time.
Very few are convinceable, even when I tell them of a healthy 40 year old friend of my wife who died within a week of getting the flu. It's frustrating.
For us "older" people, and myself in particular, their friend's experience with the vaccine has been a driver. The number of people who got a seriously bad reaction to the flu vaccines when they first came out was significant. Several people I knew were were sick for days. Almost everybody who got a flu shot complained about something. When you are younger and see that situation you basically say "I would rather take my chances with the flu than be sick for sure". Now that I am significantly older and the number of people who have bad experiences seems to be about zero, I have started getting a flu shot.